Birmingham Hospice Company To Pay $24.7 Million Medicare Fraud Settlement

SouthernCare Inc., the Birmingham-based hospice company, has agreed to pay the federal government $24.7 million to settle Medicare fraud charges, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement. The charges stem from two lawsuits that were filed in federal court in Birmingham by two former employees of SouthernCare, a private company with 95 offices in 15 states. The fraud involved SouthernCare enrolling ineligible patients for hospice care, which is restricted to patients who have less than six months to live.

Interestingly, the company is still eligible to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. They reached a five-year corporate integrity agreement that hopefully will give the federal government greater oversight of SouthernCare’s operations. This is just another example of a corporation cheating the government and taxpayers, who certainly don’t need any more corporate cheating.